Owen Sound Mayor, Deb Haswell, met with OPSEU union representatives and
the Deputy Police Chief to look at the ramifications of the recent
announcement that the Owen Sound jail would be closing.

Undergoing some $200,000 in renovations, work was suddenly halted when
the announcement came through from the Provincial Government that the
jail was to be closed, along with jails in Sarnia and Walkerton.
Instead, the Penetang 'mega prison' will be built.

"There has been a complete lack of consultation," said Mayor
Haswell. "We were told it was because of the 'high degree of
confidentiality surrounding the budget. However, Grey County
received a letter on March 28th and the budget came out on the 29th."

At a recent meeting that included the Warden of Grey County, the OPSEU
president, the President of the Grey County Lawyers' Association, Canada
Mental Health and several others, the efficiency of maintaining the
original jail was discussed and the economic and social repercussions
that would result from its being closed.

"The more we discussed it, the more questions we had," Haswell pointed
out. "There are many issues here: the inability for people
to serve intermittent sentences on weekends when they must work during
the week to support families; First Nations communities will be directly
impacted and they were not consulted; there are Charter of Rights
issues; a loss of local counselling services for in-mates working toward
rehabilitation ... and the list goes on."

"We are asking the Province to postpone the closure of Owen Sound and
Walkerton. We asking for a full review in consultation with the
community stakeholders before any further action is taken," added the
Mayor. "Whoever made this decision does not understand the geography of
the region or the weather that we encounter during the winter months.
What happens if prisoners are to be transported and the highways are
closed, as is often the case here?"

Both wardens for Grey and Bruce Counties are taking the lead and meeting
in Queen's Park with Minister Bradley who oversees correctional services
along with MPP Bill Murdoch for Grey Bruce Owen Sound and Carol Mitchell
for Huron Bruce.

Several petitions have been forwarded to the Legislative Assembly of
Ontario.

In a letter written by Marie Laurent of Canadian Mental Health Services
and program Manager with Court Support Services, she states that it
appears as though the "... separate ministries operate in silos with no
knowledge of what the other ministries are doing. The Ministry of
Health & Long Term Care has invested heavily in Court Support Services
and millions have been invested in a new Owen Sound Court House where
will now be no jail to house prisoners waiting to come before the
courts."

In Owen Sound, the move would result in a loss of 55 jobs and, possibly,
families from the area and, in Walkerton another 40. "This is
devastating to a rural community," says Walkerton Mayor David Inglis,
"and represents some$3 million in lost economic income with the
municipality. In addition there will be huge costs to transport prisons
back and forth to Penetanguishene and estimated increases in thousands
of municipal dollars to annual police budgets."

According to the Ministry, the Walkerton jail is prohibitive to repair
which Mayor Inglis challenges. "The jail has been maintained by
the County and the tenant and the facility is fully functional with only
a $100,000 estimate of bringing it completely up to standard."

In addition, OPSEU President and Jail Guard, Paul
Johnstone, pointed out that the three jails being closed are actually
the most efficiently run. "They have the lowest operating costs
among the 10 jails in the Province. So why is the Province closing
the ones that are costing the least?"

He went on to say that, "People are absolutely
devastated. They are being told they either have to re-locate or
they have no jobs. Families are looking at being split apart,
children are being uprooted, people are being asked to sell their homes.
We have lost our manufacturing in this region and now we are losing our
services."

"We know that $3million will be lost in each location,"
added Mayor Haswell, "but that is only the tip of the iceberg. The
ripple affect throughout the region will be catastrophic. We need
to talk common sense here and need to remind our Toronto officials that
we are in a significant community, a significant geographic area and we
do not deserve any less than the GTA and this is absolutely an erosion
of our services here. This is not over yet!"

While they were meeting in City Hall, across town at the
Stone Creek Golf & Country Club, the jail guards themselves were meeting
with Assistant Deputy Minister, Steven Small and Western Regional
District Manager, David Hatt.

The guards were told that they would be given a choice
of moving to the Penetang mega-prison or have their employment
terminated. Many in the room were visibly upset.

(L) David Hatt and ADM, Steven Small

"We want this jail closed by the end of September," said
Small. "You'll have seven paid days to go and try to find a place
to live if you re-locate. There will also be temporary living
costs put in place."

Hollie Black and others in the room were visibly upset

Hollie Black, choked back tears as she said that it had
taken her seven years to become a full-time guard. "My husband is
a paramedic here and I have two little girls, 5 and 18 months and a
home. I can't expect my family to just pick up and move and, yet,
we need our two incomes."

One possible solution that Mayors in the region had
suggested was to build a smaller, central prison to serve Grey-Bruce so
that it would be accessible to Goderich, Walkerton, Owen Sound and the
Bruce Peninsula as well as the new. Small bluntly said,
"There is absolutely no plan or decision made regarding a new jail in
this area."

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